Friday, March 6, 2009

Of Eggplant and Oranges

Roasted Eggplant Tofu Sandwiches with Spinach and Mushrooms

This recipe is an adaption of both an eggplant casserole recipe I have and Eggplant Rolatini from Veganomicon. It is Eat to Live friendly and comes together easily, of course! A favorite when I'm craving Italian food.

1 large eggplant, stem and navel ends trimmed
3 cups no/low-sodium pasta sauce
1 pound low fat, firm or extra firm tofu
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 pound bag frozen, chopped, organic spinach, thawed and drained
1 pint mushrooms, washed and sliced, sauteed until tender in a small amount of water

Optional: pine nuts or faux parmesan (ground toasted sesame seeds+nutritional yeast)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wash eggplant and slice it stem to navel into slices about 1/4" thick. Place the 6 middle slices (which should be the full length of the eggplant) on silicone baking mats on cookie sheets or jelly roll pans. Bake until tender, about 20 minutes. While the eggplant slices are baking, mash tofu with a potato masher then mash in lemon juice, garlic, nutritional yeast, and basil until it reaches the consistency of ricotta cheese. Set aside. In the bottom of a 9 X 13 glass casserole dish pour half of the pasta sauce. When the egglpant slices are done, remove three of them from the baking sheets and place side by side on top of the sauce in the casserole dish. Place 1/3 of tofu mixture on top of each slice and then layer on 1/3 of the spinach on top of that, followed by half of the mushroom slices. Cover each "sandwich" with the remaining eggplant slices. If you have any remaining eggplant slices that you baked, you can wrap up a spoonful of the tofu mixture and spinach and bake it in a small casserole along with the large casserole dish (see second photo below). Pour on remaining pasta sauce and top with the remaining mushrooms. Bake for about 20 minutes. Serve topped with toasted pine nuts or faux parmesan when done.


Orange & Goji Berry Salad with Broccoli Slaw and Sunflower Seeds


This has become my favorite winter salad. It's crunchy and tangy- a favorite combination for me.

1 navel orange, peeled and cut into chunks
1/2 cup broccoli slaw
1 Tbs Goji berries*
1/2 ounce (2 Tbs) raw, hulled sunflower seeds
1/2 ounce raw unhulled sesame seeds

Toss together and enjoy.
*For added flavor sensation, soak goji berries in orange juice the night before.

7 comments:

kneecap said...

this looks great. both of them. I will have to try them sometime.

Anonymous said...

Absolutely GORGEOUS!! I'm inspired to try something similar using my beloved sprouts!! ;^)

Anonymous said...

this looks like something one would get at a fancy, amazing restaurant. kudos.

Anonymous said...

I think your favorite winter salad is about to become my favorite winter salad.

Anonymous said...

I just started using tofu this week and love how versatile it is. It also takes on flavor perfectly-both dishes look incredible and fresh.

Erin said...

Judging by the title I thought you were going to put eggplant and oranges together and...it might work, I guess!

Thanks for the eggplant recipe, it looks absolutely delicious! I'm going to save it for when I start seeing eggplants around these parts.

And oranges...I miss Florida oranges. My boyfriend swears to me that California oranges are just as good (he thinks they're better), but I have yet to have one here that's comparable to Florida.

kneecap said...

Hi Picks,

I made the eggplant recipe today. It was great! Thanks for posting it.

-barb